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Features
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| Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna | | A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | DJ talk with Psyrenzo ahead of his debut set at Tribal Village, the Steelyard this Friday 14th January 2022! | | TENZO aka Overdrive talks freely about launching his new act which will be showcased at Tribal Village, Steelyard on 14 January 2022! | | A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London! |
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SouthWestFour 2008: Reviewed
Reported by Toxic
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Submitted 24-09-08 11:44
Although only four years old the annual SouthWestFour festival on London's Clapham Common feels as if it has been ensconced into the London hedonist's calendar forever. The formula is pretty simple – take an inner city green space, add 20 or so of the biggest DJs in the world and mix with 25,000 clubbers on the last bank holiday weekend of the summer. This simplicity surely contributes hugely to the success of the event with each year selling out and positively received by those attending.
So how did it fare in 2008? At the tail end of the least sunny August on record it would have only been a fool that would have predicted clement weather for the day but the weather gods were once again smiling on the South London festival and the rain stayed away. It certainly wasn't a balmy summer’s day like in 2007 but the sun did make a guest appearance early on and the day stayed dry and fine all the way through to the end. This welcome respite from the prevailing tone of the summer meant that people were in a party mood from the off, eager to indulge in seven hours of fun.
Musically the line up at this years event was focussed mainly on house and techno with a nod to trance – headliners Carl Cox, Eric Morillo and John Digweed have played at previous events but other DJs were less familiar to regular SW4 goers such as Tiefschawrz, Sven Vath and Danny Tenaglia. The DJs were spread over 4 arenas – the huge main stage, the Global area with a techno slant, the Gallery area with a trance theme and the Push area dedicated to house.
I arrived at the site early on and made my way straight to the Gallery tent where Sister Bliss was playing to an already busy space. Resident at the legendary Gallery night at Turnmills, she was one of the very few DJs that could play the tricky midnight to two set with aplomb. Knowing this I had no doubt she'd kick the party off with a bang even in her relatively early slot. She didn't disappoint weaving between Swedish Mafia house from the likes of Axwell & Laidback Luke to more progressive numbers and some techno chuggers as well – Tim Davison's remix of Cevin Fisher's Got me burning up was a particular highlight. The crowd were very responsive and already the atmosphere was building nicely with plenty of recognition of the tunes being played.
Onwards to the main stage where Eric Morllio was due to begin – Morillo opened the inaugural event with an absolutely storming set on the main stage so I was hoping for similar this year but I was sadly disappointed. Putting together a one hour set can be tricky as the time allotted doesn't allow for a journey and the de-rigour route to success for a festival set going out to 10,000 people is to go big – this is fine and Morillo clearly followed this template but unfortunately the result was a mish mash of styles with some hideous cheese and no consistency. Tunes lurched from the faintly ridiculous (Happy Clappers - I Believe) to the banging (Cafe Del Mar by Energy 52) to the 'he should know better' (the horrible vocal mix of Toca's Miracle). All in all a mess of a set that was quite rightly poorly received by those in attendance - considering how much he would have been paid he really should have delivered a better set than that of a bedroom DJ.
After that disappointment, Digweed stepped up to the main stage decks and delivered a radically different take on things. He again only had a short set time but absolutely rocked it with some awesome driving progressive and techno featuring the huge Joris Voorn remix of Black Flower. I saw him play Bedrock in April and he played far too introspective and self indulgent for my taste but at SW4 he was back to his very best and properly rocked it!
I then checked out the Gallery arena again where Markus Shulz was playing, it was a little too trancey for me although the aficionados of the genre were clearly loving it. I headed over to the Push arena to check out SOS. SOS are DJs Demi, Desyn Masielo and Omid 16b. They stole the show at the SW4 weekend last year with their amazing set at the Brixton Academy after party and have since then developed into my favourite DJs de jour. Once again they did not let me down and delivered their trademark quality house and progressive sound to a happy and exuberant crowd. They don't play tunes just because they are new or fashionable but instead concentrate on playing timeless music with emotion and groove. The minimal techno vibe has not got its hooks into these three yet - thank goodness!
Finishing off the night back on the main stage was legend Carl Cox. I've seen Cox probably more than any other DJ over the past 3 years and he has consistently delivered storming sets with panache and an unbridled enthusiasm. As darkness set across the common, the lighting of the stage really started to come alive and the event took on a more intense, clubby feel. As ever groovy, slamming techno with an electro edge was the theme of Cox's set with stand out tracks from Fergie & Picotto and Prodigy raising the fever. Towards the end the set did start to meander somewhat but he pulled it back to provide a storming finale accompanied by fireworks illuminating the dancing masses.
So that's the music covered, what about the other elements that contribute to whether an event is a success? The crowd was, as ever, superb with a really friendly atmosphere prevailing and a real sense of hedonistic pursuit in evidence.
One of the constant bugbears that people have had about SW4 is the volume of the music. The denizens of Clapham, having decided that they can't possibly be disturbed by amplified beats for just one day a year, have forced the council to place very harsh restrictions on the sound at the event and in previous years the sound systems have failed to do justice to the music being played. However, this year's event saw a significant improvement with sound quality, although not volume, being increased so that the beats carried more weight and as a result lifted the party atmosphere. Well done to the organisers who obviously invested in some expertise and equipment in order to do this.
I've reviewed this event three times now and every review has been positive. Some have begun to be rather jaded about this event over the past year but it's easy to forget that only 4 years ago to attend a festival like this would have involved travelling to the middle of nowhere in some scummy coach. Now we have it on our doorstep it's easy to be blasé but this August Bank Holiday party has delivered the goods year on year with excellent music, a fabulous crowd and a great atmosphere to boot. Here's looking forward to 2009!
Photos courtesy of the HarderFaster archive. Not to be reproduced without permsission.
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Other Features By Toxic:
Bedrock: Reviewed
PvD - In between tour: Reviewed
southwestfour: Reviewed
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Comments:
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From: sao on 28th Sep 2008 12:35.06
you left out the bit about the smiley ravers who got there early for a good spot up the front only to be crowded out by hundreds of pushy poser clubbers barging thier way to the front to stand shoulder to shoulder chest to back in an undancable mass. a high class event thats lost its magic for us but we'll be back albeit at the back of the crowd
From: Dubster on 1st Oct 2008 08:11.34
No mention of the ludicrously undersized and understaffed bar situation either.
I've never been to a festival that saw you queuing 8 to 9 people deep, and having to literally fight your way back out through them holding your drinks when you needed some refreshment before. Over half an hour to get a drink meant you missed a lot of the music in the tents.
Also, a tad ridiculous that considering the worlds biggest DJ, Armin Van Buuren, who is a trance DJ, and played at SW4 doesn't even get a mention in the entire review because the reviewer doesn't like trance.
On the subject matter of volume, I can appreciate that outside things need to be toned down, but inside a tent you've got a bit more room to push things up a bit. Instead, we got to see the worlds no.1 DJ playing from 2 small speakers at the front of the tent, basically meaning that if you were at the back you couldn't hear a thing.
I would suggest that the organisers look at how Glade festival arranged the main arena, with rear speakers pointing inward but I know it would fall on deaf ears.
As someone who traveled for 3 hours from outside London to get to the event, I and the entire gang I was with agreed that we wont ever be going back, simply because this was a festival that felt like it was put on by organisers who knew it would sell out, and therefore very little thought was put into the areas which ensured enjoyment for all clubbers, some of the very reasons to be there - sound system, bar etc etc.
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